by Chad Jennings, USA TODAY Sports

by Chad Jennings, USA TODAY Sports

BOSTON - As Brian Cashman met with media in the Yankees dugout Sunday afternoon, Alex Rodriguez walked out of the clubhouse and onto the field for some early work. He did not speak to Cashman, and Cashman did not speak to him.

"I'm not comfortable talking to Alex on this stuff because I feel we're in a litigious environment," Cashman said. "So I am not comfortable anymore talking to him. I think it's pretty self-evident. Like yesterday's stuff, is that helpful to anything, to the process? I don't think it's helpful. Me talking to him about it, it's not going to (help). I don't feel comfortable talking to him.

"â?¦ Hello, goodbye, and that's it. Because anything else, I don't want to be distorted, to be quite honest."

Cashman strongly disagrees with Rodriguez's version of events from last year's postseason, during which, Rodriguez's legal team asserts, he did not have access to medical information about his ailing hip. Cashman said there was never any indication of the left hip problem until the offseason, and manager Joe Girardi said the front office never told him to keep Rodriguez in the lineup. As you'll no doubt recall, Rodriguez was benched quite a bit last postseason, and pulled for pinch hitters in key at-bats against righties.

But beyond that, the latest Rodriguez comments - via his lawyer - make clear that the disagreement between player and organization goes well beyond the usual fight over playing time or contracts or money.

"Clearly this is an issue that none of us ever signed up for," Cashman said. "I know that our medical staff - as they've done with all of our players in our clubhouse - have done everything that they possibly can to try to assist Alex and help Alex and diagnose Alex and have given the best proper medical care."

Cashman said that just days before orthopedist Michael Gross went on the radio to say he disagreed with the Yankees' diagnosis of a strain quadriceps last month, Rodriguez had called Cashman personally to say he had no problem with the team's diagnosis, and that reports of him wanting a second opinion were false. Then, out of the blue, Gross was involved and saying the opposite.

"It's like, how do you handle that?" Cashman said. "I felt like Selena Roberts a little bit there, or Katie Couric, or anybody else I can come up with because I know that, at that moment in time, I was lied to."

Cashman said he believes the Yankees have done a good job staying focused on the task at hand, but he acknowledged that this has become a distraction for him. It's a constant, and it seems no one knows what's coming next. It's literally gotten to the point that the two sides aren't able to speak to one another.

"Our team wants to do everything they can possibly do to close the gap and secure a playoff berth," Cashman said. "Alex is part of that process, and he can help us. And he has helped us since he's returned despite everything else that's going on."

Is it unusual to root for a player when he's in the box, while clearly fighting with him when he's off the field?

"These are unique times," Cashman said.

That seems to be the nice way to put it.

Jennings writes for The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal-News, a Gannett affiliate.